The major loss of confidence
in the quality of Sydney’s water supply in 1998 was a stark reminder
that this principle is still the most cost-effective way of keeping
water supplies healthy and clean. The resulting inquiry by Peter
McClelland recommended separating the catchment functions of Sydney
Water into a new Sydney Catchment Authority. SCA would become a land
management regulator, with strong powers to deliver clean and healthy
stored drinking water, and NPWS would manage the innermost catchments.

However, two years after
the water scare, the inner catchment lands – lands adjacent to Lake
Burragorang, the vast southern metropolitan catchments, Lake Yarrunga
on the Shoalhaven and other smaller holdings in the Blue Mountains and
south-west Sydney – have not been transferred to NPWS.

NPA has run a long campaign
to transfer these lands to NPWS management as national park or nature
reserve, dating back to our original support for Myles Dunphy's
Greater Blue Mountains park proposal. The catchment area’s high
biodiversity values would in this way be recognised and professionally
managed, with the additional benefit of strong legal security to
ensure any future move to raise Warragamba Dam could only occur with
approval from Parliament.

The transfer of the
catchment lands has been promised many times by the Carr Government
since 1995.

In 1996, the Government
approved the immediate transfer of major parts of Lake Burragorang
foreshore lands held by Sydney Water, but this was refused by the
independent Sydney Water. Now, under SCA management which is
government controlled, there appears to be support for their transfer.

For the southern
metropolitan catchments, the issue is more complex. Underground coal
mining takes place underneath this area. A recent study by SCA
highlighted the area’s high conservation value, rare vegetation
types and threatened species. These lands, together with the
unprotected Bargo River Crown lands, form an important east–west
link with Royal NP and the Blue Mountains. But mining activities have
taken place with little scrutiny of their impact. The disappearance of
the Cataract River underground illustrates this well. Special
legislation is needed to ensure ecologically based interim management
of these lands by NPWS, followed by automatic reversion to nature
reserve once mining ceases.

It is now time to secure
our catchment lands. Write to the Minister for the Environment, the
Hon Bob Debus (at Parliament House, Sydney 2000), seeking the
immediate transfer of all the SCA-held lands to NPWS.

For
the opportunity to participate in a recreational activity that is
suitable for young and old alike, join us on our open day bushwalk,
Sunday 26 November, in Sydney and across the State. NPA offers the
largest bushwalking program in NSW – it is a great way to meet people,
get some exercise and enjoy the beauty of our national parks. Non-NPA
walkers most welcome.

There
are many hectares of valuable bushland in the Sydney area still in the
hands of Commonwealth departments. We can be grateful that these lands
have been protected from the local developers up to now. These public
lands were assigned to the Commonwealth for defence purposes, but the
current Federal Government and their bureaucrats have the mistaken idea
that they own the lands and can therefore sell them off without regard
for the community or heritage values.

In 1979, the then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser and
NSW Premier Neville Wran finalised with goodwill and statesmanship a
transfer of land both from and to the State through a Memorandum of
Understanding. The MOU clearly states that the Defence lands will be
returned to the State once their needs have ended. This arrangement was
to apply for ten years and then be subject to further negotiation. Alas,
such goodwill and understanding is absent today!

It has been necessary for local community groups and
peak environment groups such as NPA, NCC and others to become active to
save these precious pieces of bushland.

Sydney Harbour foreshore sites Middle Head and Georges
Heights, Woolwich, Cockatoo Island and the Artillery School at North
Head, are now under the control of a Commonwealth Interim Trust, thanks
to community pressure. However, the much-amended Bill to establish the
Trust is still to be agreed by the Government.

The Australian Defence Industries (ADI) site at St
Marys, the Air Services Radio Station at Shanes Park and the disused
Rifle Range at Malabar are covered elsewhere in the Journal. The Defence
site at Randwick, with its valuable wetlands, is still an example of
proposed exploitation.